A patrol party of the Indian Army and Jammu and Kashmir police was fired upon in Hajin’s Parray Mohalla on Thursday morning, police said.

The encounter broke out on Thursday after militants attacked security forces in Kashmir’s Bandipora on Thursday. (Waseem Andrabi/HT File Photo)

Two Pakistani militants of the Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed in a joint police and army operation in Hajin town of Jammu and Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Thursday, security officials said.

The militants, identified as Rizwan and Ali, were killed in an encounter after security personnel comprising, police, army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) launched a cordon and search operation in Par mollah in the centre of Hajin on specific information about militants’ presence in the locality.

Army spokesman, Colonel Rajesh Kalia said that two militants were killed in the operation at Hajin.

Giving further details about the operation, a police spokesman said that joint search operation, based on credible inputs about the presence of militants at Par Mohalla, was launched in early hours on Thursday.

‘’During the searches, militants fired on the search party, which was retaliated leading to an encounter. In the ensuing encounter, two militants were killed and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition including rifles recovered from the encounter site.’’

The spokesman said that the items recovered from the encounter site indicate that both the killed militants were from Pakistan. “They have been identified as Rizwan alias Jindaal and Ali alias Maaz. Both were involved in several attacks on security establishments and civilian atrocities in the area.’’

In the recent years, Hajin has witnessed a spurt in violence. Police say that nine militants of Lashkar are active in the town and the group is headed by local militant Saleem Parray.

In last four months, six civilians were killed in Hajin and its adjoining areas. While the police blamed militants for these killings, militants however blamed security agencies for killing civilians. Officials said that militants had managed to establish base in the town and its adjoining areas as they use the area as a transit point from north Kashmir to south and central Kashmir.

In last several months over a dozen of operations were launched by the forces in Hajin but many were abandoned after local villagers started pelting stones on the forces. The forces however conducted some successful operations in the past one year, managing to kill some top Lashkar commanders in the area.